Day 5 Gontán to Vilalba

Today was back to normal. We were all up bright and early and out for a nice 23k walk. Our walk to day was a relatively easy one. Slight ups and downs but not the extremes of day 3. We met two new pilgrims a father and daughter. Manolo and Iratxe. They are from the País Vasco and live very close to Iñaki. But for just about 15 minutes of rain it was an uneventful day of walking. I have now met two young ladies one from Germany, Verena and one from Austria, Heike that have finished medical school. Verena is finishing up her residency in pediatrics and Heike is getting ready to start her residency also in Pediatrics. It is really fun to meet all of these people from all over the world. You would never know they were not just kids walking the Camino. Everyone is looking for answers. Today I walked with Heike for a bit. She told me she is trying to decide if she will try to get a job in southern Austria which is beautiful and her family lives there or in Vienna which is were she studied. She said that she hopes to have the answer by the time she reaches Santiago.

Vilalba is a good sized town. There was a lot of activity, and many different types of stores. It’s funny you never know what type of town you will be walking into or staying in next.

We are staying in our first private albergue. It is nice and what is even better is all of the people that have been staying in the other albergues are here. The kitchen is full with pilgrims cooking a feast. It makes me smile. The six of us went for a really nice meal at a local restaurant. Get this for 9€ each. We each had a giant plate of Calamaris, then Pork ribs and French fries, then Cheese and Membrilla (quince jam) for desert. Along with Water, 2 bottles of wine, after dinner drinks and espresso. The Spaniards know how to do this. A big meal at 2pm and then a snack at dinner time. With a nice nap in between.

After hand washing all of my clothes, today we used the washing machine and dryer.

This is two drawings by pilgrims. I watched the one on the right being drawn. Amazing talent.

The view this morning as we are leaving the albergue

There was a bit of traffic along the way. I guess you could call it the milky way today…

The crew relaxing and having second breakfast about 3 hrs into our walk

After a nice shower, and some lunch we are out exploring Vilalba. The tower behind us is part of a Parador in Vilalba.

Dos abuelos…

It is very common on the Camino for groups of people to get together to make a communal meal. These people are from Austria and Germany. They made some amazing meals together. Tons of vegetables, pasta and meat. One of the things I love about the Camino.